Wait For You
by browneyesonly4
Summary: Full description in authors' note. Joshua finds Tony and takes him and his team to Seattle to help fight the Transgenics' war. Love, blood, sweat, and tears. But is all of that enough? And who is to say Tony even believes in that stuff?
1. Upstairs People

_**A/N: This is my first attempt at a Dark Angel/NCIS crossover fan-piece,**__ so (although I don't think it needs saying, necessarily) I would appreciate if flames were kept to a minimum. _

…_**There is a specific universe that this fits…**_

_Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo donated his sperm in 1991; according to several sources that say Tony was born in 1971, he would have been twenty at the time. We all remember the episode where the Sperm Bank contacts him and he discovers that no one wanted his sperm. What if, by sheer chance, someone had really stolen it and created an exact clone? In this piece, that clone is Logan Cale. He is seventeen years younger than Tony, but exactly the same in appearance. This being said, in this DA Universe, the pulse did not occur, but we are in present-day Dark Angel. Therefore...Welcome to 2019, where Tony is forty-eight; Ziva is thirty-seven; McGee is forty-two; Abby would probably be somewhere in her thirties and Gibbs would most likely be near his sixties (which is difficult for me to imagine..). _

…_**This being said…**_

_Just keep all of that in mind as you read. Things will be disclosed throughout the fic._

…_**I could not have…**_

_Done any of this without my beta, surferdude8225. __**::smiles::**__ Thanksss!_

…_**Now…**_

_For our feature presentation…_

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own any characters of the __**Dark Angel**__ or __**NCIS **__fandoms. They are the creations of their writers, producers, and directors. I also do not own Michael Weatherly or Jensen Ackles, which makes me very sad. I wish I owned a Joshua, but…Alas…I don't._

* * *

The elevator dinged and out stepped Ziva and McGee, laughing and apparently very jolly for such an early hour at the office. Tony watched them enviously as he wrote notes about their current case in a notebook. "Good morning," he greeted, eyeing both of the other agents and then returning to his task.

"Same to you, Tony," Ziva said with a smile. "McGee was just telling me about how Jethro—"

He held up a hand. "Did he do something disgusting? Dogs tend to do some pretty disgusting things, so if he did something that would qualify as disgusting, please refrain." McGee just quirked an eyebrow and carried his laptop bag to his desk and sat down. "Oh, so I take it you've got a dog with no manners?" The younger agent shrugged. "Well, you know what they say, Old McDonald: pets really _are_ like their owners." Tony winked at Ziva and went back to reading through his notes.

"Tony, do you want to know what happened or not?" McGee asked, frustrated. "Or are you going to insist on being a child, as you always do?"

The Senior Field Agent set down his papers, sending a mockingly huffy glare at his teammates. "I do not _always_ act like a child."

Ziva bit her lip, and then with twinkling eyes said, "Well, McGee, he _does_ have a point…he has been rather grown-up-like lately." Tony grinned appreciatively. "Now we just need to make it a regularity." And, just like that, his face fell again.

"What's with you and your double-sided comments lately, Zee-_vah_?" he pouted, standing and sauntering over to the woman's desk. "Seems as though you're getting a bit careless with them."

"I am not getting careless with them," she snapped. "You are just being overly sensitive." To McGee, she muttered, "Must not be getting any 'action' right now." The techno-geek just smiled cheekily and typed on his keyboard as though he'd heard nothing.

Tony just shook his head and went back to his desk. He would deal with her later. His forty-eight-year-old common sense (hidden from public view for at least two-thirds of his life) told him that there were more important things to worry about.

* * *

"Logan…Max…gettin' busy!" Joshua panted under his breath. "Logan…Max…gettin' busy!" He was on the scent and knew it led to one person: Logan Cale, ex-journalist as well as ex-Eyes Only. Or, at least, the one who shared DNA with Logan. The Dog-Man knew he needed to find the guy immediately, or all hell was going to break loose. Well, not Logan, necessarily. Logan had said the man Joshua was supposed to look for would _look_ like Logan, but wouldn't actually be him. In fact, the scent would lead the transgenic to a man who was _older_ than Logan was, but who was vital to their cause.

Joshua came to a dead point in front of a building with a sign out front that read 'NCIS'. Below it was the breakdown of the acronym: _Naval Criminal Investigative Service_. He glanced between the sign and the door several times, smelling the air. "Logan."

He entered the main doors with his head down and asked the receptionist to page the name on a slip of paper he pulled from his pocket. She nodded, eyeballing him warily, and punched in the number of the man in question. "Special Agent DiNozzo, there is a man downstairs to see you. Shall I have him escorted up?"

The transgenic sensed he was being watched and looked up to see a red light and a lens trained on him. Joshua stared at it, remembering the video cameras from the news stations at JamPony during the time the Transgenics held the Ordinaries hostage. Since that time, he had been travelling on foot through woods and along highways, making his way to Virginia. It had, so far, taken him about six months. He was tired, hungry, and without any money to buy food or rent a hotel room. He had been attacked by a mountain lion in Kansas and a coyote in Indiana, but had fought both of them off successfully. The truth was, Joshua was just too loyal to Max and knew that since she needed him, he needed to follow through on his promise. He was going to find this man.

A security guard approached him and led him through a box that had red and green lights. The man must have expected it to flash red, but when it didn't, he kept walking, leading Joshua to a gilded elevator. From there, they went to the second floor, and then down an orange-painted hallway. Joshua kept his head down, but his eyes were always moving; he saw a woman whose back was facing him, and then two men across from her who were turned toward him. The one farthest to the woman had cups covering his ears, with a band around his head, and wasn't paying attention. When Joshua saw the man closest to her, he knew he was in the right place.

"Joshua," the Dog-Man barked, holding out his paw-hand proudly and lowering his hood. "Max is my friend."

The other man stood and took his clawed hand gingerly, his face showing traces of fear but his eyes alluding to a compassion deeper within. "Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo…how may I help you, Joshua?" he introduced himself, releasing Joshua's paw and leaning on the desk in front of him. "Or is it Max that needs helping?"

"Joshua and Max…soldiers."

"What happened to a soldier?" a woman from across the bullpen called and crossed over, as if supplying backup. "I am Special Agent Ziva Davíd, Agent DiNozzo's partner."

Joshua sighed, looking between the two. "Max need help." In broken syllables, he explained the situation in full, and when he ended, the two NCIS agents were staring at him in disbelief. "Joshua…Max…soldiers."

"I think…" Tony began, glancing at Ziva, "…that this is something only the FBI can handle. I can get an agent if you—"

"_No!_" Joshua growled. "Has to be you."

The other man shook his head and Ziva placed a gentle hand on Joshua's arm. "Joshua," she murmured, "what happened to you?"

"Nothing."

She took a deep breath. "I know that Halloween is coming up, but if this is some sort of prank—"

Joshua broke into a grin. "Tricks and treats!" He clapped, and then barked a few times, before jumping up and down. "I can be with the upstairs people instead of the downstairs people!"

Tony squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Look, Joshua; is your friend in trouble?"

"Bar code on neck. X-5. We all in trouble."

The two agents looked at each other incredulously. "I really don't understand," Tony murmured, taking a seat. The man with the cups on his ears looked up, spotted Joshua, and hastily stood, removing the cups from his head.

Approaching the three, the man pointed at Joshua and gasped softly. "You're…you're one of them." Joshua tensed slightly out of fear. "You're a transgenic." The Dog-Man nodded meekly. "Hi, I'm Special Agent McGee," he said, and then declared to the others, "We gotta get him to Abby."

"What?" Tony asked. "Why?"

"Because first of all, we need to hide him. If he's here and asking for help, he's obviously not a danger to us, but he is in danger himself," the other man directed. "Second of all, Abby and I were just talking about the transgenic scare last night. She'll know what to do about him. But make sure that Gibbs and Vance don't see him, okay?"

The other two agents gave him a bewildered nod and Joshua lifted his hood again. The four made their way to the stairs (in order to avoid whoever this Gibbs person was, McGee had explained) and into a laboratory. Joshua was instantly on edge until he saw a girl in dark hair, clothes, and makeup run out.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my _gosh_," she squealed. "Timmy! You brought me one!"

McGee rolled his eyes. "No, Abby, he needs help. I only heard the last part of his explanation but he needs _help_. That's all I know." The woman's jaw dropped and she sat down on a stool. Joshua cast Tony a look that told him to stay, but the other two agents filed out as he began his story. When he was finished, Abby got up, crossed over to Joshua, and hugged him, her eyes wet.

"Joshua, I'm _so_ sorry. People are idiots."

The transgenic grinned. "You sound like Max. Idiots."

Because that's what the world was made of. Complete, stark-raving-mad idiots.

* * *

"Do you think he found him?" Max whispered, squeezing Logan's latex-encased hand. "Do you think…he's…do you think he's okay? You don't think he got whacked, do you?"

Logan nodded. "You know Joshua. He's a dog. He knows how to follow a scent trail, Max, and if you remember, he found _me_ just by smelling." The transgenic girl nodded. "Therefore, I think you should relax, have some wine, and then wash your glass so I don't die." They shared a laugh, but it was tense and almost forced. Besides, all of his wine was back at his apartment, probably smashed or shot by now.

Max shrugged and whispered, "I wish I could see him and know it was all alright. What if the guy doesn't believe him? He's probably not going to drop his spy gig and travel with a transgenic all the way to Seattle, the dead city…"

"Remember, Max," Logan said gently, "all of America's basically dead." Washington D.C. was pretty much the only part that wasn't, and while he knew it, and she knew it, they both knew that she was also on the top of the America's Most Wanted list in D.C., so to get a federal agent's help for her was going to take finesse. "Trust in Joshua. His common sense may be off sometimes, but if I know him as well as I think I do, he'll be alright."

He raised a good point, but the truth of the entire situation still hung over their heads like a heavy, putrid smoke. The lives of the transgenics in the United States were running on stolen time. Eventually, it would run out, and when it did, they needed the public and the government to be on their side for once.

Mole stuck his head in from the main room of their underground headquarters. "Are you two done playing hanky-panky? Or do our lives have to be put on hold again?" Max clenched her jaw and let go of Logan's hand, but to the man in question it felt as though she were throwing it. "Good! Now, get your asses in here and let's fix the world, shall we?"

The couple sighed. Would it ever be fixed, or were they just wasting whatever valuable time they had left?

* * *

"Okay, so, would it bother you if I drew blood?" Abby babbled, flitting from station to station in her lab. "I mean, it's not necessary, but if I'm going to help I need to know exactly what I'm dealing with."

Joshua shrugged. "Yeah." He hated getting his blood drawn, and while he really wanted Max to be proud of him, he simply didn't want to be stuck with anymore needles. He'd saved Logan before. This wasn't any different. He pulled his arm away at the last minute. "I trust you."

"I know." Abby's face was that of pure innocence, her eyes shining with unconditional love and hope pouring from her black smile. "I promise; I'm going to help you." The Dog-Man watched her and then decided she was alright, allowing her to once again have access to her arm. "I love dogs, you know. I saved one once and named him Jethro. He was accused of murdering a Petty Officer, but I knew he hadn't done it. I almost lost my job because I wouldn't let them take Jethro away from me. I wanted to prove his innocence first…" she murmured as she tied a tourniquet around his upper arm.

Transgenic eyes met light olive Ordinary ones. "What happened?"

The Goth smiled as she held his gaze, picking up a syringe. "Well, here I am. I wasn't fired, thank goodness, and I proved that Jethro hadn't done it." As she finished drawing his blood, she pressed a square of gauze into the crease of his elbow. "And now, Jethro is safe and sound in McGee's apartment."

Joshua stared at her as she pranced over to an odd-looking machine and prepared slides of his blood. "What are you doing?" he asked, following her.

"I'm going to run a series of tests on your blood and then locate the different DNA strands in your system," she explained while she worked. After slipping the slides into the machine, she fluttered over to the counter to shed her gloves.

"Abby?" Joshua said as a bark and she turned around to grin at him. "Can you do that…with all DNA?"

Abby nodded. "Yep, pretty much. As long as I've got something to test!" He reached inside his pants' pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag. "What's that?"

"Hair…Logan's." He held the bag out to her. "Do you have…Tony DNA?"

She pressed her lips together and shook her head. "No…" Joshua's hopeful stare drooped considerably but she broke out in a grin. "But, I _can_ get some!"

* * *

"I can't believe this." Tony bashed his head against his desk for the eighth time in a row. For the past half hour, he had sat there, saying the same sentence and then hitting his head. "It's just too much to believe." Sitting up, he groaned, "Ziva, McGee; can you honestly believe this is happening?"

Ziva stared at him in boredom. "That _what_ is happening, exactly?" she asked. "That you have a clone? That the sperm bank _actually_ sold your sperm? That there is such a thing in our world as a half-dog-half-human creature? What?"

"All of it," he wailed, and collapsed on his desktop. "There's a company named Manticore that creates creatures and transgenetic things that are apparently soldiers that work for the government to perform special ops and I, Anthony Daniel DiNozzo, Special Agent of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, didn't know about it. I, Anthony Daniel DiNozzo, who works on a daily basis with the Marines and Navy, didn't know about it. How can I even call myself an investigator when I don't know what the hell is going on in my own country?"

Ziva crossed the bullpen and softly touched his back. "There has to be a reason for this. Besides, I am interested in knowing what they possibly could have done with your DNA without telling you. Is that not some sort of human rights' violation?" She racked her brain for anything she could have read years ago in her study books for the Naturalization test.

"Apparently," Tony sneered, "once my sperm is sold, anything can be done with it. I guess when they called a few years ago and said that it was thrown out because no one wanted it…"

"If they wanted your DNA," McGee suggested from across the way, "there was a better way of getting it than telling you that no one wanted to use you as a prototype, when in fact, they did."

"Yeah, McGoogle?" Tony snapped. "Find one. I don't have time for this. There's a dog-man in the basement and, apparently, there's another one of me in Seattle who's paralyzed, but, after a freak transfusion with a transgenetic—"

Ziva gently corrected, "Transgenic…"

"—_transgenic_, can all of a sudden _walk_ and is in love with this other transgenet—transgenic woman who's twenty freaking years old and climbs walls and fights crime." Out of nowhere, he stood and walked over to the window. "I'm just going to launch myself through the paned glass," he said through a daze. "It's all just a really bad nightmare and the moment I hit the ground, I'll wake up." He laughed in amazement.

His partners were at his side immediately, the former-Mossad agent easing him down into a chair that the computer nerd had rolled up behind him. "Sit. Relax. This is not a dream. This is happening. And you need to accept it."

"How can I?" Tony whined, folding over to prop himself up on his knees. He rocked back and forth gently, sure that he was going insane. "How can I accept this? What do they _want _from me?" He looked down and saw a pair of spiked, studded, knee-high boots and followed them with his eyes up to the beaming face of Abby. "Oh, no."

She shook her head, an understanding grin adorning her face. "Tony, it's just one little piece of hair, or maybe some spit." The Senior Field Agent stared up at her and said nothing, so she bent down, yanked out a piece of hair, and held out a cotton swab. "Come on, you do this for a living. Give Abby something to play with!"

Finally, Tony took the swab and ran it along the inside of his cheek, handing it back to her. She stowed it in a glass tube and pranced off. "Now, what was that about? Did it even happen? Oh, God, I'm going crazy!" As he looked between his two teammates, he felt the wait on his shoulders shift. "'_What about Tony? He's lookin' forward to the hotel, I bet.'_ From _The Shining_. 1980. Good flick." He let out a sigh and stared out the window. "I can honestly tell both of you that if I were in any other place, I would want to go to a hotel. But do you know where I want to go now? Do you? Do you?"

Ziva shook her head but knelt before him. "Tony, we are going to figure all of this out, even if it means that we three have to go to Seattle."

"No. '_I don't want to go there, Mrs. Torrance_.' I don't, and I won't," he insisted, and she brought her hands up to cradle his face. "What." It wasn't a question.

"You need to stop with the movie quotes and focus on what Joshua has told you." Ziva smiled reassuringly. "We are a team, Tony. What does a team do?"

Tony rolled his eyes and said almost begrudgingly, "A team works together."

"Good," she told him, squeezing his hand. "Let us go talk to Joshua and see what he has planned for us."

* * *

"So," Tony mumbled, rubbing his eyes with the bank of his palms, "you're saying that we have to take time off from work, fly to Seattle, go to this lovely Terminal City place, and save a bunch of science experiments from their gruesome end? It sounds like something you'd find on the SyFy network…" After a pregnant silence, he took a deep breath and looked up at Joshua. "Why did you come for _me_?"

Joshua's face lit up at being acknowledged and Abby scratched his head as she would a dog's. "You…Logan…Same hair."

"You came here because we look alike?" the Senior Field Agent groaned. "How is that even logical?"

The half-canine shook his head. "You…Logan…Same _hair_," he repeated.

Finally Abby spoke up. "Your DNA is _exactly_ the same as Logan's," she blurted. At Tony's stunned expression, she elaborated, "I ran a test four times, as odd as that probably seem, since I've got all of these machines. But they just kind of, I don't know, backed up what I found."

"Lay it on me, Abs," Tony requested, resting his chin in his hands.

"Alright." Excitement sparkled in Abby's olive eyes and she held up a sheet of paper. "The test I ran was on the mitochondrial DNA. I extracted the DNA from the mitochondria found in the shaft of both hair samples and multiplied them by, like, a hundred. I've got a ton of this stuff now, and nothing to use it on!" Ziva gestured for Abby to continue. "Oh, right. So, then, I gave the DNA to Major Mass Spec and asked him to compare the two. And, voila! They are _identical_."

Tony slowly blinked at her several times before saying, "So somehow, in some sick way, this Logan Cale person is both my kid _and_ myself? At the same time?"

Abby furrowed her eyebrows, her nose crinkling upward. "No, silly. He's you. He's _all_ you. There isn't another set of chromosomes. It's just you." She looked rather pleased with herself as she hopped up onto a stool. "I love genetics. It's so incredibly, awesomely, genuinely, extremely amazing." Sipping on her Caf-Pow!, she motioned for Joshua to sit and he got down on all fours. "Anyway, Tony, you and Logan have the same DNA."

"Beat this bitch," Joshua ruffed sadly. "We will never beat this bitch…"

Everyone stared at him in confusion and he just looked up at Abby, who translated. "Apparently, this Manticore place made a virus and put it in this Max girl. It doesn't harm her, but it was targeted to the Logan guy's DNA, so if they so much as touch each other, Logan will die." She took another long sip on the straw and then added, "They're in love, too, so it makes it really difficult. Talk about Rule Number Twelve…That's gotta be wretched."

The transgenic nodded. "Bitch."

"Sounds like it, Joshua," Abby agreed, running her hand over his head.

Tony lifted his chin off of his hands and eyed Joshua carefully. "But how am I supposed to help, then? If Logan's DNA and my DNA are exactly the same, that just means that if that Max chick touches me, I die. I don't want to die."

Abby shrugged. "Guess I'm coming with you to Seattle, then, huh?"

Ziva looked at her. "Who says we are going?"

The Goth stared at the former-Israeli and huffed. "I don't get to go on any fun excursions! My life is boring! It's all about DNA and forensics and ballistics, right? Wrong! I'm stuck in this stupid lab all stinking day and all I want is a little freedom!" She stomped her foot childishly and Joshua nuzzled her leg, effectively calming down. "Besides, I'm one of the few people out here who knows enough about genetics to fix whatever's happening! I can make this right!"

McGee spoke up for the first time that meeting. "It would be pointless for me to go. I don't fight and I know more about computers than genetics...Biomedical Engineering only got me so far in college. Whatever information you need from me can be sent via cell phone." He looked between all of his colleagues. "I vote that I stay behind and the rest of you fly to Seattle."

Ziva shot him an odd look. "Why would I need to go?"

Joshua scanned her appearance. "Abby told me you fight," he said simply. "This is a fight."

She knew what he meant, and nodded. "Then I suppose I have to go." She looked at Tony. "Why fly, when we can drive? Joshua would never be able to board a plane, and besides that, even if he did, once he got there, he most likely would not step foot in an airport alive."

Tony sat in thought and then broke into a small, but scheming, smile. It was more of a smirk, but his team took it as a good sign. "Guess this means we're going on a road trip!"


	2. Downstairs People

_**A/N:**__ Chapter two, coming to you live from __**Brown Eyes Only**__ (with the help of surferdude8225). _

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own ciprofloxacin, NCIS, Dark Angel, Logan, Tony, Alec, Ziva, Abby, Max, Gibbs, McGee, or any other characters. Yet. (There may be some that I have to engineer myself later on; just a heads-up). If there were anywhere around me that was similar to Terminal City, I think I'd be hanging out there (especially of gorgeous men were there like Logan and/or Alec..) but there isn't. So I don't own that either. In fact, I basically just own the storyline. __**::smiles::**_

* * *

Tony, Ziva, Abby, and Joshua had piled into a rented car and headed toward Seattle the next morning, with the Goth girl curled up in the backseat next to her box of DNA and other tools, and the two field agents seated in the front, representing a family. They had the transgenic kneeling on the floor, covered with a blanket up to his neck and his head resting on Abby's knee. Everything had gone smoothly on their trip—taking forever, but with no surprises—up until, a hundred miles outside of Seattle, Tony had spotted flashing red and blue lights in his rearview mirror and pulled over.

"Well, honey, you should have known that we'd get pulled over!" Tony laughed, rolling down his window. A policeman stood on the other side of it, waiting with his ticket booklet at the ready. "Hi, Officer, I'm sorry. My wife told me that it was a fifty-five, when I guess it was a forty-five." The officer eyed them all and then stowed his ticket booklet in his pocket. "Sir?"

"This isn't about your speed, boy," he growled, stooping down to look at him. "What brings you to Seattle?"

Ziva piped up, "We have relatives in the city that we wanted to go visit. We have never seen the Space Needle, either, so—"

"Show me your necks," the officer interrupted, and Tony, Ziva and Abby revealed the backs of their necks to him. He didn't bother asking about Joshua, because, to the naked eye, he looked like any other Afghan Hound or Irish Setter out there. Besides which, he was 'first', so he didn't even have a bar code. "Nice tat," he told Abby, who blushed and thanked him. "You're free to go. Be safe; there are a lot of freaks out there." The Human-Canine growled softly but then whimpered when the Goth next to him stomped on his foot. Tony rolled up the window and, with a respectful bow of his head, drove into Seattle.

As they neared Terminal City, Joshua directed them as to which turns to take, and finally they got to the gates. Frowning, Tony asked what he was supposed to do. "I am _not_ wrecking this car. It's gorgeous."

"Car is least of worries," Joshua yapped. "Drive through, go right, and then left. Up ramp." Ziva nodded and gave her partner a look that clearly told him to obey, and—as they had planned, if they to see any officers outside the place—he parked. She got out and walked up to the officers. Joshua told Tony and Abby what they were talking about and then Ziva gave the signal behind her back for them to drive. She slunk around the pillars as the officers tried to get her to stop, and followed the car to its destination.

When she finally took the time to look around them, she saw that they were surrounded by transgenics.

* * *

"We've got company," Mole growled, and Dix ran over to check the monitor. "You idiot, listen to me. I know what I'm talking about." The latter transgenic ignored the reptile's argument and looked at the screen. Sure enough, there was a car parked, surrounded by their guards. "See what I mean?"

"Hey!" Dix cried. "How'd Logan get out?"

Logan walked up the stairs and stood behind them. "That's not me; it's him. That's the guy!" He turned and hurried down the stairs with Max to greet their visitors, the ones they _hoped_ would save them all. When they reached them, he stuck his hand out and said, "I'm Logan Cale."

"Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo," the other man murmured, shaking his hand. Turning to Max, he said, "I'd shake your hand too, miss, but your friend told me about the virus, so I don't want to take any chances." She frowned and nodded, taking a step away from the clones. "But you're Max, right?"

"Yeah, that's me." Max refused to make eye contact and instead shook Ziva's hand. "I didn't expect we'd have so many coming to help…"

Abby had already been dragged by Joshua over to meet a group of other trans-humans, but Tony gestured toward her. "She's been analyzing our DNA. Her name's Abby Sciuto."

Logan's eyes flashed. "Wait, is she a genetic specialist?"

Tony shook his head. "No, a forensic scientist, but she goes to a lot of conferences and studies up. She's dedicated, too, so she won't give up." As a side note, he smirked and added, "She's wicked smart with chemicals, too, so she'll probably be able to whip us up some artillery if we need it." He glanced over at her and saw that Mole was already showing her his guns. "She runs ballistics almost every day. She knows her stuff and begged us to come. We figured you could use her."

Ziva introduced herself and explained why she was there. "I was trained by the Mossad when I was sixteen. I know how to fight. While we are dealing with later forms of technology, I am sure of my abilities."

"We might need your skills when we're fighting off those Cult bitches," Max said bitterly. "Thanks for coming."

The Senior Field Agent nodded curtly. "We all have cell phones and chargers that would probably fit anything. I brought most of our armory…Probably going to lose my job, but I think my boss will understand someday." He jerked his head toward the hoards of transgenics that were carrying in multiple suitcases. "We have bulletproof vests, blankets, food, and other things. We filled our car and brought money."

Abby hurried over. "Holy jumping beans, I'm going to need a lot of Caf-Pow!, because I've made a lot of friends in my five minutes of being here. That Mole guy is _awesome_," she gushed, taking out a picture of McGee. "If you see him trying to come through your computer screen, let him, because he's with us. He's a whiz at computers and can hack into almost anything. We don't have those creepy flying-disk-UFO things in D.C., but he could probably figure it out eventually…" She realized she hadn't introduced herself and stuck out her hand. "I'll shake Logan's hand first. Hi, I'm Abby Sciuto." She then grasped Max's hand. "Come on. We're going to go take blood and set up my gadgets."

Little did she know that almost anything she could want was already set up downstairs. She cheered in delight and set to work unpacking the DNA samples and other tools as she struck up conversation with the rest of the group.

Tony and Logan just eyed each other, almost as if in awe, while Ziva and Joshua stood in the background, taking it all in. This would be one of their hardest undercover jobs yet, especially when Gibbs and Vance found out.

* * *

"Where're Davíd and DiNozzo?" the silver-haired fox asked McGee, sweeping into the bullpen. "I've got a case."

"Um…" McGee stared at him and knew he had to think of an answer fast. A thought hit him. "They eloped." Gibbs' eyes widened and for a moment, the computer nerd thought he might be taking his boss down to see Ducky as a cadaver instead of an investigator.

Finally, Gibbs' nostrils flared and he asked, "They _what_?"

McGee nodded. "Yep. I know, I was shocked, too. But Tony called me this morning and said he and Ziva couldn't hide their feelings anymore and—uh—I guess they're out on the West Coast now." He watched as his boss paced to his desk, and then said, "But, Boss, they'll be back soon."

"Not here, they won't." And with that, Gibbs was out of the office, and it was up to Tim to fix it all.

* * *

"Hey, McGee. Got somethin' for us?" Tony asked, holding his cell phone up to his ear. Max had perched herself on a table facing Logan and the man who shared DNA with him, situating herself between them. Now, both men were being very careful to not touch her.

"No! And, uh, Tony, we have a problem," McGee told him, panic rising in his voice. "Gibbs came in and asked where you were. I said the first thing that came to mind and he got _really_ mad."

"What did you tell him?"

Tim hesitated. "Um…that you and Ziva eloped."

"You told him _what_?" Tony exploded. "No, McGee, that was _not_ what you were supposed to say. You were _supposed_ to say that we were trailing a lead and that we'd be back when we caught him. Why would you _ever_—"

"_Tony_! Calm down!" McGee shouted over his teammate. "He doesn't know about Abby yet. What am I supposed to tell him when that comes up?"

The Senior Field Agent frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "I don't know," he ground out, "how about that she's Ziva's Maid of Honor, huh? How's that work for you?"

"I'm being serious."

"You got us into this mess. Figure it out, McGee, because right now, that's the least of my worries." He hung up and left his partner hanging, before flinging the phone onto the table and addressing those with him. "Okay, so, we're somehow going to have to get our hands on a ring."

"What?" Max asked, looking at Logan briefly. "Why?"

"Because apparently, Ziva and I are running away to be married," he said as a sigh. "McGee freaked and had to think of something on the spot, so now our boss is under the impression that I'm in love with my partner or something."

The girl in question walked up and hopped up onto the table next to Tony, toying with his phone. "Right now, we cannot let our feelings for each other get in the way of this. Let me focus on getting a ring and I will simply wear it in video conferences." Her eyebrows pulled together and she then took his hand. He didn't budge.

"No," Max murmured suddenly.

"What?" Tony and Ziva looked at her in shock.

She repeated, "No." Hopping off of the table, she told the other three, "I'll find the ring tonight. Don't you worry your pretty, little, East Coast heads about this dealio." The transgenic strutted from the area and down the stairs. Ziva glanced at Tony before following her.

To Logan, Tony said, "Look, I don't know what's going on here, but I don't like it. How's she going to get a realistic-looking ring without spending what little money we have here?"

The clone just grinned and told him, "It's not going to be realistic-looking, Tony. It's going to be real." At Tony's confused look, he explained, "Max is a cat burglar. That's how I met her. She broke into my apartment to steal a cat statue…"

"And you're allegedly in love with her?" Tony asked incredulously. "That's...insane."

Logan nodded. "I know, but, to answer your question, yes. I love her, and I trust her, too. She knows what she's doing. I think the only time she got caught she was led into a trap to begin with."

Tony sighed. "Fine," he said, running a hand through his hair. "So, you're my clone."

"Yup."

"And, may I ask, _why_ are you my clone?"

Logan took a deep breath and shook his head. "I don't know. I didn't even know my own history until I finally researched it a little while ago. The probability of two people having the same DNA is approximately one in a billion, so I decided to look into it." Tony gestured for him to continue. "Turns out that I'm sort of genetically engineered."

"How?"

The younger version shrugged. "I'm a clone. I'm exactly the same as you are, just seventeen years younger. For some reason, they wanted to duplicate you. They tracked your health records—and are most likely still tracking them—throughout high school, and must have made some breakthrough…"

"What kind of breakthrough, Logan?" Tony's interrogation skills were steering him. "And what do you mean, my 'health records'? I had the freaking Pneumonic Plague. I don't think that counts as a shining moment."

"They overlooked that since you were targeted." Logan smiled cockily, an expression that Tony knew well. "I hacked into the NCIS databases and found your files. I know pretty much everything about you; enough to know that you were a point guard for Ohio State and tight end on their football team. You work out at four-thirty every morning for three hours and get to work around eight. You hardly sleep. You were a police officer for three different police departments…Need I continue?"

Tony jerked his head 'no'. "So, I take it, they assumed I was some sort of god, or something, because I'm in good physical condition? You people on the West Coast are _weird_…"

I know," Logan said with another shrug, "but the fact of the matter is, you're here, I'm here, and we need to figure out some way of solving this huge misunderstanding." He stared at the floor, crossing his arms. "The transgenics aren't the problem. It's the ignorant people out there."

"I'll call the FBI and straighten it out."

"No!" The younger man jumped. "You cannot, under any circumstances, involve the FBI in this."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Come on, Logan. I'm sure they can help. I'll just set up a meeting and—"

"Are you insane?" Logan accused. "The FBI is what got us into this mess. Special Agent Ames White, to be exact, is _who_ got us into this mess."

The NCIS agent thought for a moment. That name sounded oddly familiar. "You mean the young guy? Wife and a kid?" His clone nodded. "Yeah, I've met him," Tony said. "Interesting man. Ziva knows him better. I was thinking about Agent Fornell; he's a jerk when you first meet him, but he really does have a heart of go—"

"_Anyone_ who has _anything_ to do with the FBI will only bring more pain, more death, and a lot more trouble than we're prepared to handle," Logan insisted. "You need to believe me. White has the FBI convinced that he knows everything." Tony still looked unconvinced so the younger man sighed. "Okay, Tony, don't you watch the news?"

"Yeah, every night."

"Good." Logan nodded. "Did you see the segment about the transgenics taking all of the employees of Jam Pony hostage?"

"Uh…" He thought for a moment. "Yeah. The transgenics had them trapped for the whole day. Tried a bunch of different deals and then were let down. Didn't the police, or something, pull back their guns, and then someone else started shooting?"

"Exactly." Tony motioned for him to continue. "That was what the FBI said. But it wasn't _really_ the FBI, because it was never reported. It was a group of White's personal soldiers. He's part of a specific breeding cult, as is his son. They're called Familiars. If anyone went against him…" Logan shuddered. "Tony, their women are like Amazons. No one would stand a chance, except for maybe Max."

The agent smirked. "Ziva's like an Amazon."

"_No._ You have no idea. They're tall, heartless, and made of iron." The younger man gave the older a folder. "Look at them. They have no remorse, they love the hunt, and they rarely give up."

"So…" Tony flipped through the pictures. "How'd you get away from them?" He knew that Logan was paralyzed from the waist down. He knew about the exoskeleton. He knew about the whole, freaky blood transfusion business. But what he couldn't figure out is what he was expected to do, or why he was needed, if Logan and his band of transgenics had it under control so far.

Logan smiled. "I've gotten stronger. As long as I've got my glasses, I'm good. As for Max? Well, she just knows how to fight. Being a robot built by the military has it perks. And then all of our friends know how to fight. Alec, Joshua, Mole…We all taped the Familiars to poles." He shrugged as though it was just an ordinary feat. "Oh, you haven't met Alec yet, have you?"

"No, I haven't."

The clone smirked. "Come on. You'll enjoy this." He walked down the stairs and toward an area with couches and beds. "Alec, you down here?"

A young man jumped off of the couch, away from a woman with blond hair. Upon further examination, Tony saw that she had the face of a cat. _Holy shit!_ he thought to himself, half in fear, half in the typical male lust. "Logan, my man! What can I—uh—do for you?" Alec awkwardly ran a hand through his hair.

Logan quirked an eyebrow and smirked at the guy. "If you're busy, we can do this another time. I just wanted to introduce you to Tony." The agent stepped forward with his hand extended. "He's with NCIS."

"Yeah, and he looks just like you. Imagine that!" Alec watched Tony warily. "You come from Manticore or something?"

Tony shook his head. "Nope. In fact, we're not even sure why _my_ DNA was used to make Logan, here." He wanted to make it very clear that Tony came first. "You know, chicken and the egg, and all that."

"Right…" The Cat-Woman rose and slinked off, and Tony wondered if it was to find a litter box. "So what're you doing here, O Federal Agent, Most High?" There was a twinge of anger to his voice that made the older man a bit uncomfortable. "Or are you 'different'?" he asked unbelievingly.

"I should hope so," Tony grumbled, and then outright said, "Look, I don't know what you're going through. I've never gone through that, exactly. But I've fought for things in the past." He thought of Somalia involuntarily. "You want my help, you've got my attention, and now it's time for us to go to work." Logan smiled. "I may not have a barcode, but you have to understand that I protect the rights of the military. You're soldiers. You were created by us, for us, to help us, and now your rights are being taken away. The War in Iraq was bad enough. Now that it's over, you've got another problem. What you were created for is over. You're not needed anymore. I get that. It sucks. They're trying to destroy what they made." His monologue far from over, Tony decided to curb it anyway. "But you shouldn't be destroyed. You're part human, too."

Alec looked at him skeptically before walking past. "Yeah. You keep telling yourself that you're fighting for justice. Go ahead, be my guest." Prior to disappearing around the corner, he turned and stared Tony down. "But if I find out you're double-crossing us, I don't care if you're the reason Logan was made. I'll make sure you die." He narrowed his eyes briefly and then left.

Tony nodded awkwardly. "I think that went well…" In truth, he had seen several suspects and victims alike that shared Alec's view; they just wanted freedom, even when they were the one who took that freedom away. The transgenic population that sought refuge at Terminal City was ready to fight for what they felt they deserved. He just wasn't sure that they knew how to do it the right way.

* * *

"So, this is how we're gonna do this," Abby said, administering rubbing alcohol to Max's arm. "I'm going to take a blood sample from you and then extract DNA from that. After collecting it, I'll replicate it so that I've got equal—or more—samples." She tied a tourniquet around the other girl's bicep and gently pressed to find the vein. "With whatever blood I have left over, I'm going to corral the virus and extract it from the blood, too, and again replicate it." As she took the blood sample, the Goth explained, "And then, as Joshua so eloquently said, 'Virus bitch going down'." Both women giggled. "And then, of course, 'Max and Logan getting busy!' Where'd he learn all of that?"

Max shrugged. "Blame Original Cindy, Abby."

"Original who?"

"Cindy. She's my sista-girl. You'll meet her eventually. I think she met a bisexual transgenic downstairs and let her have her way with…her." The amount of 'hers' in that sentence confused both of them, but not much could get in the way of Abby finishing drawing her blood. "Anyway, what are you gonna do to kill the virus?"

Abby placed gauze over where the needle had been and taped it. "Well, there are several things I could do." She placed the tube in a small cooler and sat across from Max. "I could freeze the virus. I could make more of that antigen that saved him before. I could add a flagellin to the virus…Max, there are so many options."

"But so little time," the younger girl sighed. "Thanks, Abby."

"Of course!" A thought struck the forensic scientist. "Tony caught the pneumonic plague in 2005. He was put on ciprofloxacin…"

"Would that, do you think…" Hope gleamed in Max's eyes.

Abby shrugged, but mirrored the other girl's expression. "It's worth a shot. I've got some with me."

"Abby, you're a lifesaver, no doubt." With a hug, Max rushed out, muttering something about a ring.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Well, here was chapter two. I struggled, but, you know. That's okay. All writers do eventually! Hope you liked it._


	3. Science People

_**A/N:**__ Heyy…Um…Well, here's another chapter! With the help of surferdude8225, I've been able to pull it off thus far. I've been reading __**Skin Game**__, too, which is a book set during/directly after the episode __**Freak Nation**__. Can I just say that I've fallen in loooove with the book? Yeah. It's amazing. Okay, go read now!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I honestly don't know anything about Genetics, so since I don't own Google, I'd might as well admit that._

* * *

"I got the rings," Max said, holding out a bag with her black-gloved hand. Logan took it, his own hand encased in latex, and inverted the bag into his palm. "I didn't touch the bling itself. I used forceps." He nodded to show he understood, and then examined the rings. "I thought it would be easiest to get a band and a diamond for Ziva and then another band for Tony." She stared down at the rings with a brand of distaste Logan had never seen on her before.

"Excellent," he murmured, stowing the rings in his pocket. "I'll go get the two lovebirds and we'll set it all up." Logan walked down the stairs and toward the sitting room, where he found Tony and Ziva huddled together on a run-down sofa, seemingly talking. "I don't mean to interrupt, but we've found you two rings." The man looked up, his gaze half fear and half determination, and took the wedding band that Logan held out to him. Ziva did the same, gasping a bit when she saw the diamonds. "Max says they won't be missed. Apparently, she got them off of a divorced couple."

Tony shrugged. "We'll only need them for a little while." The woman sighed and slipped the rings onto her left-hand ring finger as he did the same. "How'd she score these?"

"I don't ask her questions," Logan told him with a smile. "I just praise her for her work." Truth be told, he was a little worried about her shenanigans and, therefore, rarely questioned her anymore. As the war had worn on, Max had raised the stakes as far as getting her hands on what they needed to survive. As long as she got them and returned safe and sound, he was content.

The Special Agent nodded and checked his cell phone for the time. "When are we holding the meeting?"

"I was thinking around eight. We'll have eaten and gathered by that time anyway." The clone sauntered off, in search of a bagel or some sort of bread to put a damper on the hunger rising in his stomach. He didn't notice the transgenic following him until he turned and found himself face-to-face with Alec. "Hungry? I'm looking for a baguette…D'you know if Max got any when she went to the store?"

The other man shook his head, his jaw firmly clenched. "No, but I'm glad the only thing _you're_ thinking about is 'getting some' from Max."

"What?"

"Oh, come on," Alec waved sarcastically. "You can't tell me that you don't want to sleep with her, because it's written all over your face. She's hot; I know it, you know it, I'm pretty sure everyone knows it. You know what else I know?" Logan shook his head in confusion. The transgenic stepped forward and dropped his voice to say, "The only reason you're trusting these Ordinaries from D.C. is because they can help you get over this petty, little virus deal. You don't actually _care_ what happens to the rest of us as long as, at the end of the day, you two can get between the sheets to do the dirty deed." Crossing his arms, he smirked at the older man.

Logan stared at him incredulously. "Alec, I don't know what to say to you right now." He was simply disgusted. "I love Max, and she loves all of you. You're part of who she is."

"See?" Alec accused. "There again, you've got the wrong view on this. You're only trying to 'help' us 'win' because you want to shag her."

The other man shook his head insistently and stared at him. "No, Alec, that's _not_ the reason." Flustered, he heaved a sigh and said, "Yeah, curing the virus would be an added perk, but I'm doing this because it's not fair to all of _you_ to outcasts. You're humans, and you have souls, and you need the same things as we do."

"So, you're saying, of course, that if you didn't know Mole or Dix and he just walked up to you out of nowhere, you would just shake his head and smile as though nothing were wrong?" Alec snorted in disbelief. "Yeah, sure, you would."

"I'm not saying that."

"Then what _are_ you saying, Logan? What does the Great and Humble Eyes Only want with our fame?" The transgenic narrowed his hazel eyes, clenching his jaw again.

Logan stared him down. "I want to _help_, not hurt. Why are you so keen on making bizarre accusations? I've only ever tried to help you, all of you, when you were in trouble."

"Whatever, Logan," Alec sighed, and pushed past him.

Something was wrong with him, but even the genius behind the cyber-journalist couldn't figure out what.

* * *

Abby toiled over her test kits for hours, only stopping once to drink some Mountain Dew that Max had managed to sneak her. It was no Caf-Pow!, but it was certainly a step up from coffee.

Finally, when she thought she couldn't do anymore work, she saw something under the microscope. "Oh my gosh!" To the glass slide, she ordered, "Stay. I'll be _right back_." Abby ran up the stairs and to the room she knew the rest of her team and that of the Transgenics were hiding. "Guys! Guys! I found something!" Grabbing Logan and Max's hands in each of her own, she dragged them downstairs to her 'lair'. "Now, Logan, take a look."

He obeyed and stared through the eyepiece. "Whoa."

"Right?" Abby squealed. "That's what the virus looks like _out_ of the blood. So now, all we need to do is reverse it."

Max looked next. "So what all do we have to do to beat it?"

The Goth smiled. "We run some preliminary tests on you and draw blood after each one. Whichever one works, we use." The transgenic stared at her, worried, and fidgeted. "Look, I'm doing this for free. I _love_ genetics. It's so interesting! I'd do my work for free at NCIS too, but they won't let me since it's a federal slot, blah-blah." Both Logan and Max had matching expressions of concern on their faces. "Really! It's free, and it's fun, and it's worth it. We're going to get rid of this once and for all, even if it means giving Max shots every day."

Logan shrugged. "Would that work?"

"If I can replicate the antigen that the other genetic-scientist-guy used, yeah. It would work." Abby shoved them in the opposite direction. "Now go; I'm working through the meeting. We're going to get this! I promise!"

Logan perched himself on the edge of a counter facing the desks where Tony, Ziva, and two large screens were standing. The rest of the transgenics, Original Cindy, and Max trailed down to sit around them. When everyone was in place, Tony began, "Hey, everyone. I know things are a real mess right now, but I'm here to help you, and I'm going to make sure you _do_ get help." When no one cheered or made much noise of any kind, he awkwardly continued, "I've worked for three different police departments, and have been with NCIS for around eighteen years. I know this is going to take some pain and dedication, but I'm positive that with some serious hard work, we _can_ succeed."

The Cat-Woman from before stood and purred, "But, Tony, what about the Amazons?"

"They're not Amazons, _Fluffy_," Max snapped. "They're Familiars. Let a man talk." She stared the other transgenic down until the Cat-Woman curled up at Alec's feet. "Sorry, Tony, continue."

"Thanks, Max." To 'Fluffy', he explained, "I know they're tough. According to Logan, they don't give up and are stronger than…'Ordinaries', did you call them?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, they're stronger than Ordinaries. But, as I've come to find out, you've all been trained to fight in your own special ways." Tony smiled. "My partner, Ziva, began working for the Mossad when she was sixteen, up until she was transferred to my department in D.C. She knows how to fight, too, so if you have any questions, feel free to consult with her."

Tony decided to open the floor to questions, now that the important introductions have been made. The first question came from a small, blond-haired boy sitting next to a girl with red hair holding a baby. "What happens when they storm our base? Do we fight back then?"

The NCIS agent stooped down to talk to him. "We're going to do all we can to beat them." He stood straight and addressed everyone. "Look, guys; how many are there of us? Hundreds? They've got, probably, ten. Regardless of how strong they are, we've got ten times their power in just Ziva, Alec, and Max alone. Next question."

It came from a man who somewhat looked like a monkey. The irony of the fact that, while science swore that Man delineated from Ape, Manticore had reversed the evolution made the Senior Field Agent crack a smile. "How do we know when they're going to come? What if they're here now? What do we do?"

"We fight," Tony said solemnly. "We fight until we win. Next?"

Alec stood. "Yeah, I've got one." Tony gestured for him to continue. "Why are you _here_?" The sound of Joshua growling echoed through the underground headquarters. "You didn't have to come, and you've got ties with the FBI, CIA, and CGIS. I did my research."

"Why are you being such a dick?" Max asked, stepping over children and transgenics as she made her way over to her transgenic brother. "You haven't given up since Tony got here."

He pulled his eyebrows together and said, "Listen carefully, Max, because I'm only going to say this once. How do you know who we can trust? You trusted the police; we got shot at. You've trusted several doctors and they've all jumped town without giving you what you want. You've trusted transgenics, and for what? Everyone's letting you down, Max. How do you know these slouches won't either?"

Max shook her head and sat down, staring at Alec in disgust. Not disgust with _him_, necessarily, but just disgust at the world.

"I know it's scary," Tony murmured. "I know you've been let down by people you thought you could trust. I _know_. It's happened to everyone. I've been there, too. It sucks, especially when you've spent countless hours and dollars working toward a cause." He turned to Joshua. "No offense here, but you're _all_ brainchildren of a man who up and left you because times got hard. That isn't going to happen with me. We fight till the end. It'll be bloody and gruesome and you may lose people that you cared about, but this is a war. A _civil_ war."

Mole stood. "Look, buddy, but I don't trust just anyone, much less some guy who donated his fishies to a freaking _sperm_ _bank_." He stared Tony down. "But I _will_ say this; you came here with a guy who looked like a dog, trusting him without seeing your goal. That takes balls. So long as you don't piss me off, you're good in my book." With that, he sat down, the guns and artillery he had strapped to his belt clanging against the steps.

"Um…thanks," the special agent said, before giving the floor up to Ziva.

She stood there for a moment, wringing her hands, before putting on a demeanor that neither Tony nor Abby had seen since her first few years at NCIS. It was the confident, kick-ass Ziva that everyone had grown to love.

"My name is Ziva Davíd. You probably have met me at some point either today or yesterday." Her features were grave as she said, "I was taught how to fight from a young age and am skilled with knife-throwing and guns. If there is a problem, I can help." A baby shrieked from somewhere and her expression softened. "I know there are always children involved in war. They are our greatest risk; no child should _ever_ see the ruthless horrors of any battle. In a way, our greatest challenge in this is saving the little ones. Protecting them as we should have been protected." Ziva threw a sidelong glance at Tony and then continued, "Our children can be used, however, in our efforts."

The woman sitting to the blond-haired boy stared up at her, terrified. "I am _not_ putting my child in danger. I want to protect her, not give her up."

Ziva shook her head. "No, no, that is not what I—" A chorus of 'Yeah! What're we doing with the kids? Don't put the kids in there!' echoed through the crowd. "_Listen to me_!" she finally bellowed, and everyone fell silent. "The children will not _fight_, but they could prove to be _useful_. They can climb into small places and hide either themselves or small objects, like weapons. They can sound alarms, cook, clean, and learn how to defend themselves." To the woman, she asked, "What is your name?"

"Gem." She held the baby in her arms, rocking her gently.

"Okay, Gem," Ziva whispered, kneeling down to talk to her. "I am not a mother, nor do I see myself becoming a mother any time soon since it has not happened already. However," and she said this quietly, "I need you to trust that I would _never_ put your baby in danger. Okay?" Gem nodded slowly and turned her attention back to the child in her arms.

For three more hours, the NCIS agents answered questions that needed answering. When Abby finally began speaking about ballistics, firepower, and medicine, they were ready to hook up the video conference with McGee in D.C. He explained that anything they needed to know, he could find. That he was willing to put his job at risk in order to help their cause. McGee was then introduced to Dix, who promised to call again soon. And after that, they all went to their own cots, to mull over everything they had been told.

* * *

Ziva rested her head on Tony's shoulder. "Would I make a good mother?" she asked suddenly through the dark. "I mean, honestly, would I?"

He thought for a moment. "Yeah, Ziva, I think you would." Would it be his kid? Probably not. But he could definitely see her holding a baby, loving him or her more than life itself, letting vulnerability take her over completely. He could see it.

"Oh." With that tiny bit of reassurance, Ziva fell asleep, leaving Tony to daydream about her baby.

* * *

"Logan?" Max murmured, pulling a chair over to sit next to the former-Eyes Only's cot.

"Yeah, Max?" He rolled over and looked at her. "Something wrong?"

She shook her head. "Oh, no, I was just…I just wanted to talk. You know, since I don't sleep, and everything." Logan nodded, looking at her analytically. "Do you think I'd make a good mom?" she asked, catching him off guard. "I mean, I'm part cat, so I guess I must have some sort of 'maternal instinct' business goin' on, but really…"

He thought for a moment, his green eyes sparkling. He saw Max, holding a baby. He saw himself, sitting next to her on the bed, kissing her cheek, arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders, both gazing down into the face of their perfect son or daughter. Finally, he choked out, "Yeah. I think you'd make a great mother."

"For real?" Logan nodded again. "Huh. Just wondering. No big dealio." Max made to stand up when Abby burst into the room. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but Max, I need you. Now."

And that's when Logan thought maybe it would never end.

* * *

"Max…Logan…getting' busy," Joshua whined, licking his wrist. He made a face, rolled his eyes, and then grunted, "'Beat virus bitch'. Psh." He was losing hope. After all that he'd gone through over the past six months of tracking Tony down, he was just chopped liver. Now that Max had a chance at getting rid of the virus forever, he … _Chopped liver. Yum!_ His stomach rumbled as he bitterly continued stewing in his own misery.

A soft hand came down on his head and he looked up. Logan. "Hey, Joshua," he murmured. Taking a seat next to him. "You looked lonely."

"Whatever." The Dog-Man just shook his head, averting his eyes.

"No, it's not 'whatever'." Logan nudged Joshua's elbow. "I know how loyal you are to Max, and I want _you_ to know how much you're appreciated here."

Joshua snorted. "Yeah. Living with Downstairs People. Lots of fun." His eyes held the same brooding hurt that one would find in an abandoned puppy's, and Logan's heart broke at the sight. "Joshua will always be with Downstairs People. The war will never end."

"Now, Joshua," Eyes Only said firmly, "you need to stay positive. Tony and Ziva are going to help us."

Without skipping a beat, the transgenic added, "And Abby is going to beat virus bitch for Logan and Max." Joshua stared at him matter-of-factly, a mockery of Logan's intelligence. "Logan and Max think, 'Joshua won't notice', but Joshua _did_ notice." He let out a huff and then growled, "Max is not Joshua's friend now. Max is _Logan's_ friend." _Hmph! Loyal…_

"Of course Max is still your friend, Joshua…"

"No." As a trans-human, he had been gifted with the stubbornness of a dog, with the aptitude of a man. Or, at least, the potential aptitude of man. And so, there he sat, at an impasse with Logan, until finally Joshua curled up on the cold cement floor. _Yeah,_ he thought before things started getting fuzzy and dim, _'friends', my ass._


	4. Sexy People

Hello. It's been awhile. How are you? I've been pretty well, but lacking inspiration for this baby. Then, however, I found Eyes Only/Informantnet on Twitter and we've been talking. Like, legit talking. It's been fun. So I have inspiration now. Kinda. We'll see where that leads. I've also been reading the _Dark Angel_ book-series. Freaking amazing, that one. Max Allen Collins is a genius. And then, of course, I got my hands on Eyes Only's dossier… D.A. Stern is pretty damn incredible that way. **::smiles::** So, here it goes; I hope you enjoy it.

**Note:** I think this _may_ be the last chapter, unfortunately. I hope you can forgive me. I finished the entire series, as you've seen, and since I started this when I was halfway through…the series has been summed up for me, and therefore I have to wait and see if I can think up any new material. I lost steam and I'm sorry. That might seem like a copout, and I sincerely apologize. It was a good idea, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who had this brainchild. I hope you enjoyed it…I love you all, you were amazing fans, and I'm far from being done writing. It's my major! Who knows? I might even continue this after all. But this is my disclaimer. Xx.

* * *

Running back to D.C., back to the safety that the NCIS Headquarters Building had always provided and always would, was tempting. Tensions were rising within Terminal City. The Reptilians were starting to resent the Felines, and the X5's and other Human-Transgenics had a growing sense of Restless Leg Syndrome, what with the lack of any kind of sufficient electricity to power a few treadmills (or at least a stationary bike or two). McGee and Abby communicated regularly in an effort to figure out a way to convert energy exerted on exercise equipment into power for Terminal City, but nothing had been able to come into play yet.

And then there was the unsettling fact that if Tony, Ziva, and Abby went back to D.C., there was no guessing how quickly Gibbs would kick them out on their asses. They'd broken the majority of their boss's rules and now they'd have to suffer the consequences. Several nights a week, Tony sat at a rickety desk, pouring his heart and soul into letters he knew he'd never send to the older agent, but always willing to try. A night like tonight was no exception. Tony kept to himself, in the bedroom he shared with Ziva (and supposedly Abby, but she mysteriously never spent the night with them), working in the light of a flashlight in an effort to get a letter done that he might be able to send to Gibbs someday. The man had become a father figure to him and the memories of all that had been done for him made Tony's heart ache.

A familiar voice rang out in the silence, breaking him from his thoughts. "Tony?" Max murmured, knocking twice softly on the wooden door-jam. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" The special agent nodded, shifting over a foot or so on his bed to make room for her. "Things're getting kinda tense out there. Wasn't sure I could handle it anymore."

Tony knew that feeling well; he rarely liked to be the leader—not the complete leader, that is—and often felt the pressure to have all the answers in moments of chaos. He simply smiled, nodded again, and fought off the urge to pat her arm. He had gloves in his pocket but there he didn't want to waste them. "I understand…hey, you look a little flushed. You feeling okay?" Tony asked. "Abby could take a look…"

"Nah, I just need a glass of milk or somethin'." The young woman smiled softly. Tony felt like he knew her personally; it had been a nagging feeling in his gut since the moment he'd arrived. "Anyway, what's that?" Max gestured toward the letter on the desk.

The field agent snorted bitterly. "Oh, just my letter of resignation." Said tongue-in-cheek, Tony figured anyone would be able to guess it wasn't _actually_ a letter of resignation, but Max still stared at him in confusion. "Um…it's a letter to my boss, explaining why I'm here instead of there. No big deal. I'll write another one tomorrow." Crumpling the paper, he launched it into the trashcan—and made it.

"Nice shot." Max stood and made her way to the door. "Well, Logan wants to talk to you about holdin' another meeting. His Eyes Only guy found some info we might be able to use." And with that, she walked out, leaving Tony to finish his letter and wonder why she seemed so familiar.

* * *

"Mole! Stop it!" Abby giggled, elbowing the Reptilian man gently. "I don't like being tickled! Hey!"

Puffing on his cigar, Mole poked the Goth in the side again. "I'm keeping you on your toes, little lady. Keep working through the distraction; it shows perseverance, dedication. All that good shit."

The forensic scientist looked up at him. "Mole, why are you nice to me and no one else?" She thought she caught a faint glow to his cheeks but associated it more with dehydration than embarrassment. "I mean, you're kind of a jerk to everyone and then with me, you're all soft and vulnerable."

"I'm not vulnerable!" Mole choked out. "I'm just…taking it easy on you `cause you're new here." Abby nodded, not believing him. "And you know guns, and I know guns, so I can trust you with my gun." Shocked that the words had just come out of his mouth, the lizard gagged and spluttered like a rusted out engine. "_A_ gun. I trust you with _a_ gun. Around rifles. Ma'am!"

Abby was too enthralled with what was through the eye-piece of her microscope to worry about Mole's faux-pas. "Oh my God, I've got it!" she squealed, jumping up and hugging the lizard-man. "They can finally—"

The happy forensic scientist was cut off as Alec made his way into the makeshift lab and glared. "Oh, let me guess," he drawled, hopping up onto the counter. "You found some way to kill the virus so our good friends, Max and Logan, can finally do the dirty?" Abby nodded slowly, mirroring his rude expression. "Sickening."

"Alec, I don't know why you're being such a meanie about this," she snapped, her eyes flashing from behind their rim of black. "If I've heard the stories correctly, _you're_ the one who messed everything up in the first place. You know, not telling them about Max's mutations and all of that." Abby planted a hand in the middle of Mole's bulletproof vest and shoved him out of the way, surprising the two men with her strength, and walked up to Alec. Although he tried to hop down from his perch and leave, she stayed rooted to the floor, preventing any escape.

"Now, you listen here, Mister Poopy-Pants," she began. "First of all, you're being a jerk for no reason. I don't understand why you can't be happy for Max and Logan, especially if you feel as bad as you seem to be about screwing stuff up." Her powerful stare appeared to have its wanted effect over Alec as he opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

"Second, you're hot, but I never want you to sit on my freakin' counters ever again. This is _my _lab, and no one sits on _my_ counters in _my_ lab. Got it?" Alec nodded, half-scared of what she would do if he did otherwise.

"Third…You are an X-5, therefore you're technically her brother, and that's just messed up. So you need to drop whatever feelings you have for her because it's not gonna happen anytime soon." She thought for a moment. "Well, unless you wanna have some sort of kinky threesome with them, but I don't think you do, even if they're both smokin'." Mole and Alec exchanged looks, and seconds later Joshua came bounding in. "Joshua! Hey, boy!" Abby scratched his head and the Dog-Man whimpered. "What's up?"

"Found it!" he cheered. "Heard from upstairs." He bared his front teeth, but not viciously. It was in pure glee. "Max…Logan…Getting busy!"

The Goth shook her head, laughing. "Not yet, buddy. I have to share the news with the couple in question before they do anything. It'll take some getting used to, that's for sure." Joshua's ears sagged in disappointment. "But, hey, Joshua…why don't you go find `em so I can tell them, okay?" As any dog would when given a task, he broke into another wide grin and scampered off to find the X-5 and cyber-journalist.

Alec gently lowered himself from the counter, wrapping his left arm around Abby so he could slip around her. "Sorry, sweetheart, but I've gotta get back—OW!" Abby's chunky heel came down hard on his foot. "What the fuck!"

Mole chuckled. "His foot's F-U-B-A-R. Good work, Abs."

And just like that, Abby collapsed into both of the men in a fit of tears.

`Cause she missed Gibbs.

* * *

"Tony?" Ziva murmured, slipping quickly through his bedroom door. She closed it behind her, making sure it latched. "Tony, have you seen Max or Logan?" Tony looked up from his letter briefly, shook his head, and went back to writing. "When was the last time you saw them?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, noon?" He froze. "Wasn't that when Abby…" Ziva nodded, a smirk on her face. "And it's eight now…Oh, my God, they've been going at it for eight hours…"

Ziva smiled softly. "Well, they love each other. I would imagine it would be stressful to be in love with someone but likewise be unable to show it."

The Senior Field Agent turned to her, eyes sparkling with mischief. "Are you hinting at something, Ms. Davíd?"

Without saying a word, Ziva grinned and jumped on him, the letter on the desk forgotten as Tony's desk chair tipped backward against the bed.

* * *

"Everyone's having sex but me," Alec muttered, plopping onto a couch. "Oh, Jesus, guys, get a room." A stranger couple—both of them containing DNA derived from earthworms, it seemed—walked away together, attached—literally—at the hip. The X-5 had to hold back from barfing where he lay.

"Joshua isn't," a rumbly voice said from the corner. Curled up in the shadows, his head resting against the wall, sat the shaggy-haired Dog-Man who terrified many but was loved by those who mattered. "Joshua isn't special. Joshua is first, but not special." He let out a sigh that sounded like a woof, and pawed his right ear.

Alec actually sympathized with him for once. "Nah, dog, that isn't what it is," he murmured, watching the TV with wide eyes. "We're just misunderstood." For the first time in his life, Alec was considering settling down and trying to live a good, "normal" life. Were there any relatively "normal", good-looking, nice, female Transgenics left in Terminal City? Max was really the last one that he had ever considered for himself—he _had_ been paired with her for breeding, after all—but since she was taken by the ever-handsome, ever-mysterious Logan Cale…his hopes for that were dashed considerably.

So he was stuck. He could only get by on looks, on money, on charm…on his _sex drive_ for so long before it was all shot to hell anyway. He'd might as well choose the easy way, right?

Alec snorted and glanced at Joshua. _Fuck that_, he thought. "Yup, Joshua. We're just misunderstood."

* * *

"Sweetheart?" Logan murmured, rolling over toward his X-5 partner. "Max, wake up."

"What?" she snapped, an eye popping open. "This is the first sleep I've had in months, and you gotta go and get all lovey-dovey sicko on me…" Logan could tell she was joking from the expression on her face, but otherwise, the words would've stung. "Anyway, what's the sitch?"

He hesitated before saying, "Max, now that we can touch…"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You've got wedding rings…You've got an engagement ring…"

"You askin' me to marry you or something?" Max asked, laughing.

Logan cringed, expecting the worst. "Yes."

"You stole the word outta my mouth, jerk." The cat-woman leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on his lips before falling asleep sprawled across his chest.

* * *

All of Terminal City seemed different now. Hopeful. Now that Tony had secured some safety for them outside of the gates, via McGee, they were able to take bus-rides to the store. While they were chaperoned (by Tony and Ziva, of course), they felt they could spread their wings a bit. That was discouraged, though, after the one time a transgenic actually _tried_ spreading her wings and tipped over a display case of tomato sauce, consequently postponing the bus-rides for awhile until Tony could persuade the mayor to forgive the mistake.

Abby held weekly web-cam meetings with Ducky, who had retired shortly after the three NCIS employees had left. He hadn't retired because he was growing senile, however, but because he needed more time to garden, tend to his mother's Corgis, and date. Nevertheless, he saved enough time out of his day to help Abby treat any ill transgenics—of the human variety—and put them in contact with a veterinarian who could assist them with the animal transgenics. (Such as Mole, who had taken a liking to stopping into her office almost daily complaining of a nasty cough. She deduced it was from all of the cigars he smoked, but suggested he come back later so she could give him something for it.)

Ziva ran a babysitting company for the younger transgenics, inspired by the story of Gem. She kept it free of charge…she was already expecting one of her own, so she figured it would be good practice for her life with Tony and Anthony DiNozzo III.

Max and Logan, of course, were expecting a life filled with happiness and joy, but were sadly mistaken when Ames White showed up and threatened both of their lives. Joshua promptly took care of him, but the threats had really jarred Max's swag, and she and Logan took a bit of a break while she figured some things out. Three weeks later, they were right back to planning their joint Spring wedding with Ziva and Tony.

Joshua met a lovely human transgenic who loved him regardless of his looks. Abby separated his human DNA from his canine DNA, and held it in her cooler until they decided when they wanted to have children of their own. She is still holding it.

Gibbs forgave his employees, judging them by their good deeds rather than the fact they skipped town without telling him. He closely worked with the CIA and FBI to ensure the safety of the transgenics. Many of them have taken up havens in his basement…Tony's idea.

McGee pined after Abby for years until he fell for the new forensic scientist…her cousin.

And Terminal City lived happily ever after…or did it?


End file.
